44 Places for a Treasure Hunt. Where Will Yours Be in 2024?

By Tim Carter (Owner of Black Cat Treasure Hunts)

Earlier in the year Black Cat Treasure Hunts completed a treasure hunt for 140 family and friends in West Lexham, Norfolk. Apart from being the furthest he has travelled from H.Q. to write one, it represented the 44th different place to be added to a formidable treasure hunt line-up. West Lexham certainly ranks as one of the smallest places to be visited since the very first treasure hunt was put together in Alfriston, East Sussex. The question is where are the other 42 in addition to these two and, more importantly maybe, where would you like your treasure hunt in 2024?
Brighton has had the most treasure hunts written around it. I have lost count of the different number of routes, with hen parties starting at their accommodations and finishing at different pubs/bars and restaurants adding to the variety. There are five from Brighton on the downloadable treasure hunt list including The Lanes, the seafront, the North Laine, in Stanmer Park and of course the highlights from the station to the i360. There have also been ones inside Brighton SeaLife with the rays, sharks and jellyfish prominent amongst the questions. Team building treasure hunts do like a day out in Brighton too.
I have pretty much conquered the coast of Sussex with treasure hunts in Rye, Hastings, Bexhill, Seaford, Rottingdean, Worthing, Chichester and Bognor Regis. Rye has attracted a couple of language school treasure hunts alongside one year when there were a couple of hen party ones too. Hastings old town is generally the best place to start and the most recent one there was for a birthday. Bexhill has a well-known insurance firm based there and has had several team building treasure hunts going back a few years. Did you know Bexhill is the home of British motor racing and that provided the theme for the challenges one time! 
Seaford has some interesting history to go with its unspoilt coastline and an increasing number of blue plaques. Rottingdean not only has a great windmill, but it links up with a cycling treasure hunt too...more of which later. Worthing combines good seafront features for treasure hunt questions, alongside some worth-visiting parks. Chichester on the other hand has more variety including its famous cathedral, an art gallery, budgerigars and a selection of sculptures outside the theatres. I must not forget the more recently placed one of Nelson too. Chichester, therefore, is best for a town (city actually) based treasure hunt rather than the coast. The Bognor Regis treasure hunt though is definitely on the coastline. I do like a park though and in Hotham Park, Bognor Regis has one of the best. Look out for the Alice in Wondeland sculptures there.
Apart from West Lexham, all the other treasure hunts I have mentioned so far are on the Black Cat Treasure Hunts website. What about all the other places I have been to for one off treasure hunts? There are definitely a few surprises coming up in the next batch:
Large village Ringmer has been the scene for two children`s birthday treasure hunts at home. This was the same scenario at Haslemere in Hampshire. I had a spell of writing treasure hunts at garden shows when I first started, and these were at Loseley and Stansted (also in Hampshire) and at Firle too. These all had stately manors as backdrops, and this theme was continued for family, birthday and a team building treasure hunt in Oakley Hall (nr Basingstoke), Horsted Place and Ghyll Manor respectively.
From the contained nature of the stately home (hotel) to the capital. London treasure hunts have become a regular stomping ground for Black Cat Treasure Hunts in recent years. Outside I have focussed my efforts on Westminster, Shoreditch and Camden albeit with some overlapping on nearby boroughs. However, going under the radar are two treasure hunts I completed a while ago now in Hyde Park and two indoors at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The second of these had a dragon ball theme! You`re going to have to look that one up for yourselves.
Back to Black Cat Treasure Hunts` heartland which is, of course, Sussex and the rest of the inland, walking treasure hunts. Arundel I really like with a start near the castle. I hope to be getting back there more often in 2024 for some personalised treasure hunts. Petworth and Midhurst have been on the treasure hunt list for many years whilst Lewes` brilliant cross section of history has made it an obvious candidate for a range of different treasure hunts. No hen party treasure hunts there yet though! Cuckfield and Lindfield are close together and doable on the same day whilst East Grinstead, with its Tudor influence, a more recent addition. 
The next category is non walking treasure hunts. This primarily means driving treasure hunts, but there is one cycling treasure hunt from Hove to Rottingdean on the treasure hunt list. The cycling route is a fantastic one and incorporates a little stop at Brighton Marina too. Hove has also been home to a team building treasure hunt, with St Anne`s Well Gardens the main part of it and a hen party treasure hunt featuring an alien in it too. Back to the driving treasure hunts though. These can be very detailed and take a while to sort out. Brightling (from Seaford) is an incredible place to land up. When was the last time you saw a big pyramid in a graveyard? Hartfield, home to Winnie the Pooh, and the destination from a starting point of Glynde are two places you will thank me for taking you to. There are some questions in Glynde which just about squeezes it into the list, but I also finished a birthday treasure hunt there once too. Pevensey is a great place for a circular driving treasure hunt. The only reason it doesn`t show on the regular list is that things are always changing in that area so it`s best to use it as an option for a one-off. A second, circular routed, driving treasure hunt was for a 40th and then a 50th birthday treasure hunt, from and back to Newick. Both were in fantastic fancy dress. Needless to say, it was the same people who booked both!
Very specific reasons create venues for one off treasure hunts. These have been memorable treasure hunts. The fort in Newhaven   had a theme of `barrack rats` (children!) around the facilities there whilst Mayfield held an extremely competitive team building treasure hunt on one occasion. Peacehaven for a girls v boys birthday treasure hunt and Friston Forest, hosting French students, are classified in the same category. Herstmonceux ,and the fantastic grounds of the castle there, surprisingly has only featured in one treasure hunt. 
The County Showground in Ardingly was the venue for the first ever Cluedo themed treasure hunt whilst Haywards Heath was the second. Haywards Heath had a brief period on the website list initially before bursting back on the scene for a team building treasure hunt, with the Cluedo theme, using the company employees as suspects.
Crawley, like Haywards Heath, was also on the website list originally and had a one off around some woods behind a theatre there for a festival.
The final three were definitely `big hitters` and outside Black Cat Treasure Hunts` normal sphere of influence! Reigate provided a good mix of questions for a team building treasure hunt, Tunbridge Wells in Kent was a nice place to go to set a birthday treasure hunt whilst this year Canterbury, provided a superb backdrop to a re-arranged (from Chichester) hen party treasure hunt.That by my reckoning is the full 44. There have been other places with brief `stop-overs` that have not quite made it onto the list. Shoreham, for example, is seen briefly during the Peter James themed driving treasure hunt. In terms of larger places in the county, I`m afraid I can`t explain why Horsham has never had proper treasure hunt recognition.
Where next? Well...that`s mainly down to you. Where do you want your treasure hunt in 2024? Black Cat Treasure Hunts loves a Sussex treasure hunt, but also a day out in London. As you can see above though, there have been treasure hunts in Kent, Hampshire and Surrey too (as well as Norfolk!). If you have a persuasive way and money to cover my travel expenses(!) I am always up for an adventure outside of Sussex. I await your email on info@blackcattreasurehunts.co.uk or call on (01323) 655346.